Attacker Apparently Hangs Self

CENTRAL FLORIDA - The Area - In Brief

April 3, 2005

DEBARY -- A DeLand man who police say stabbed his former girlfriend early Saturday later was found hanging from a backyard tree near her DeBary home.

Christina Stokes, 39, was sitting in the doorway of her home on Juniper Lane bleeding heavily from several stab wounds when Volusia County deputy sheriffs arrived at about 2:45 a.m. She identified her attacker as Donald Joseph Menard, 44, who formerly lived with her.

Deputies searching the neighborhood soon found Menard hanging from a tree in the back yard of a Wisteria Drive home, an apparent suicide.

Stokes was stabbed several times in the neck and back. She was airlifted to Halifax Medical Center, where she was listed in stable condition Saturday.

Deputies said Stokes obtained an injunction for protection against Menard in February after he was accused of cutting her TV cable line and slashing the tires on her car.